Does same communication language is required for baby to understand

Hi renutn,

Kids are pretty good at picking up languages. Me and DH also have different mothertongues and speak mostly in English or Hindi. Though I know his mothertongue, I am not fluent at it and find it difficult to convey my thoughts and feelings and hence stick to speaking English or Hindi. With my kid though, I speak in English as much as possible and also a little bit of DH's mothertongue as I live in a joint family and ILaws will freak out if I speak Hindi or my native language with the kid. My kid now three years old is now able to grasp all the languages, English, Hindi, DHs mothertongue, and lil bit of my mothertongue. Also a lil bit of Spanish as she likes "dora the explorer" series a lot. She converses in English and DHs mothertongue and is also able to explain the word in DHs mothertongue if she feels that ILaws did not understand what she has spoken in English .

 

Both of you can speak to child in your mother tongues. Children pick up the languages pretty quick.

 

Kids are extremely smart with languages - you just have to keep talking to them !!! They can pick up even the small nuances/variations which people they interact with speak - e.g. my son picked up at age 2, the fact that I use english words for some things that his dad uses telugu and my brother would use hindi words, and he would use the correct language word for the same thing with different people!!!

I remember in my childhood, we changed some 4-5 states, I could speak all the languages, but once I became an adult, even when we changed 4-5 more states, I never picked up the languages, and managed with hindi/english etc...

Kids will pick up english from their teachers, hindi/local language from school friends/ayahs/bus drivers and of course whatever languages their parents speak to them and apart from these, they also pick up the variations of their grandparents languages, so dont worry at all!!!

All the best for your TTC

Harini

 

You speak in one language and your husband in another...stick these two at home...you will see a slight delay in comparison to other children-beause yur child's brain needs that form two different pathways. But after a certain period (varies from child to child) your child will pick up the skills simultaneously in both languages-which is an advantage over monolingual children. Once your child has a strong foundation in these two he/she will be able to learn a third and fourth easily. The key is not to mix the two languages...it results ina type of creole which is fine at home but when it comes to academics it will limit language fluency.

 

If you live in the US I would suggest one parent speak in one Indian language and the other in English. This will prepare your child for his social interactions as he grows older. It will be particularly helpful when he starts school-depending on your child's future teacher's awareness of biligual children you may or may not have any issues.
Developing bilingual skills doesn't slow any organ development but while the child is developing the language skills you may see a slight delay (in comparison to other children). Another option is for both parents to speak only one language for the first few years and then introduce a second language.

Typically parents are encouraged to teach their child in their own language first before the introduction of an alien one.

Here's some info for you...
Learning Two Languages

 

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